Indiana tangles with shortage of rural doctors

Health care advocates in Indiana say an improved training system for physicians and an expanded concept of what it means to see a doctor could help alleviate what's expected to be a crush of new patients seeking care starting next year.

Millions of people without health insurance nationwide are set to gain coverage in 2014 as part of the federal health care overhaul.

As in many states, that will exacerbate problems in Indiana surrounding access to care in rural communities where is there is already a shortage of doctors and other health care providers.

Medical researchers and state officials investigating the shortages found last summer that Indiana's rural areas face the starkest shortage and that a wave of retirements among doctors could make things worse.

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